Measuring the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of an isolated group of muscles provides valuable information regarding the ability of an user to perform and their propensity for injury. The MVC of an athlete can change frequently in response to training load, strength development and clinical and subclinical pathologies. Accordingly, regular measurement may be employed to identify injury risk. Existing methods of measuring MVC of isolated muscle groups, however, support only a very limited range of muscle groups, require significant setup time, or present the risk of injury when performing the testing.
One existing system is marketed as the Nordbord (trade mark) by Vald Performance Pty Ltd, while Biodex Medical Systems provides a number of trainers.